North Korea has kept the world in thrall with its latest -- failed -- Space Odyssey

Technically, the North Koreans tried to launch a satellite, not a ballistic missile [GALLO/GETTY]

Bangkok, Thailand - A sensational cliffhanger has
been set up ever since that fateful March 16 when the Korean Committee
for Space Technology announced that the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea (DPRK) would send Kwangmyongsong-3 ("Guiding light," or "Polar
Star") -- a polar-orbiting satellite -- into space, atop the Unha-3 launch
vehicle.

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Unha means "Milky Way." But according to North Korean myth-making, it
also designates the current Supreme Leader, 20-something Kim Jong-eun,
"a heaven-sent statesman set to lead the ancestral Land of Morning Calm
to millennium prosperity".

Not even Hollywood on a wild ride can beat a script like this.

Literally, the whole planet was waiting for this rocket launch out of
Sohae ("West Sea") in Cholsan County -- during a window between April 12
and 16. According to an official statement, "a safe flight orbit has
been chosen so that carrier rocket debris to be generated during the
flight would not have any impact on neighbouring countries."

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To no avail; every regional carrier from Japan Airlines and ANA to
Philippine Airlines frantically scrambled to alter their flight paths.

Sophisticated statesman

As far as eulogies for what is officially the third North Korean
satellite launch are concerned, it's hard to beat the inimitable Kim Myong-chol -- the unofficial spokesman for the Kim dynasty.

He maintains that, "to mark the 100th anniversary of founding father
Kim Il-sung's birth" (it falls this Sunday), Kim Jong-eun ("the world's
youngest but most sophisticated statesman") has scheduled "the
spectacular launch of an earth observation satellite that will present
the world with a spatial chorus of The Song of Marshal Kim Il-sung and Happy Birthday to You."

All this song and dance, though, had the potential to lead to some
serious embarrassment. North Korea launched a first satellite in 1998.
The rocket failed. It launched a second in 2009. The rocket also failed.
As far as the North Koreans are concerned, there was no failure. For
internal public opinion, North Korea has already put two satellites into
orbit.

But another failure, now, would represent a cataclysmic loss of face --
especially with so many foreigners invited for the occasion (Iran, for
instance, has mastered the technology with much less investment).

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And that's exactly what happened this Friday morning. Although the
rocket did not explode in front of everybody, the satellite failed to
reach orbit, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

The North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) tracked the
launch of what it describes as a "North Korean missile" at 6:39 pm EDT.
NORAD says the missile went south over the Yellow Sea about 165
kilometres west of Seoul. Stages two and three failed. And no debris
fell on land.

Pepe Escobar is an independent geopolitical analyst. He writes for RT, Sputnik and TomDispatch, and is a frequent contributor to websites and radio and TV shows ranging from the US to East Asia. He is the former roving correspondent for Asia (more...)